Overcome procrastination when Doing

04-21-2012, 10:39 AM

I work in the office. I love to come to office daily. Then I start meetings as planned. There's no time for calls or computer tasks because there's ni time in my office when I can concentrate and be alone. I started to book doing time: reading, computer actions. I make phones calls in between meetings.

Though I easily do meetings I hesitate to make calls or do some of the computer actions. Sometimes I feel like the next action I planned to do is silly or has no meaning or something else. And I start procrastinate. I intended a system that helps me with that type of actions.

I open my next action list and start doing one by one (unless there's a really SHOUTING next action on the list). If I feel that next action is not doable and that leads to procrastionation then I allow myself not to do it and:

1. Cross it off my list
2. Never add it to my list
3. Write down a reason I didn't do the action (usually it is a fear of something)

I found myself stuck last week when I pulled out one of my project files. After staring at the file for a few minutes, I wrote down on a small piece of paper, "I do not know what the next action is to move this project forward...." then a few seconds later came, "call someone for help or email Karen about getting together on this."

Ba da bing!

Another strategy I have for something I KNOW I will get stuck on is a separate calendar (tiny book, one week per page) for that project. Any day I work on the project, I put a smily face sticker on that day, and write down what it was that I did (however painful). When I become stuck, or encounter a problem I cannot solve and therefore need to wait on someone/something, I write that in on the day. A few days in the beginning I just wrote "Too scared" in the calendar. Will I have this calendar in a year? I doubt it. Once I have some skills under my belt, and this becomes a habit, the calendar will fall away. Currently, I need as much positive reinforcement as I can get! So the second grade teacher comes out with the stickers! Hey...don't laugh...it is getting done!

-- Move it to Someday/Maybe
-- Make it more doable: break it into smaller steps, make sure NA is defined
as a single physical action
-- Schedule it to a specific time and resolve to do it then
-- Spend small amounts of time on it on a regular basis. Gradual exposure
tends to make one feel more comfortable with the project.

Being able to cross something off and decide it's OK never to do it is a key option
to have available.

Comment

Another option is to write an email but not send it until the next day. If it's really
too silly you can decide not to send it. Just writing it or just sending it is easier than
doing both in one action.

Comment

Do you know about the pomodoro technique? (Google it--everything is out there for free).

I can be a magnificent procrastinator and sometimes find it hard to focus. The Pomodoro technique has you set a timer for 25 minutes, during which time you focus intently on what you are doing. When the timer goes off, you take a 5 minute break. Then you start another 25 minute segment, another 5 minute break and so on.

Usually after 3 of these, I'm ok. It's a great strategy to have in your toolkit.